Akatsuki Surprise Attack
by Ultimate Chibiness
Summary: Akatsuki has a plan to catch the Naruto and extract the kyuubi. Will they succeed? And how does Sakura get dragged in there? R&R please.
1. Chapter 1

_**Disclaimer**: I do not own Naruto. In fact, the chances of me owning Naruto is about the same as me running around in circles with a giant shuriken laughing madly…wait, that's actually possible, but me owning Naruto is not. Come on…do you see on the cover of Naruto the name Ultimate Chibiness? No. You see Masashi Kishimoto. And he rocks for making it. So he owns it, not me._

_Story takes place _after_ Sasuke runs away but _before_ Naruto makes his new jutsu._

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Kisame nodded in the dark lair of the Akatsuki. The only way he knew it was Itachi in front of him was because of his dark red eyes staring intently at him. Itachi was repeating his next plan on catching the kyuubi and extracting it. Kisame looked rather bored; this was one of the many plans he has and will make until he catches the kyuubi. Frankly, it was boring Kisame, but it had to be done for Akatsuki to achieve its goal.

"Did you get all that, Kisame?" Itachi asked, doubting. Kisame looked like he was in another world.

"Yeah, yeah," Kisame said, waving it off. "I got all that." Itachi looked away, trying to resist killing his partner. Kisame knew where this was going, so he had to think of something that will prove that he was listening.

"Shouldn't we get backup or something?" Kisame asked.

Itachi sighed and said, "It'll only be the kyuubi we'll be getting. He's still not strong enough so it shouldn't be so hard."

Kisame sighed. "When do we start?" he asked, ready to get this over with.

"Right now." Itachi said. Kisame was disappointed with the answer but nonetheless, he would do as Itachi said. Against his will.

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**Sakura walked out of the hospital, happy her time there was over. The breeze blew her pink hair to the side and she breathed in the nice fresh air. Inside it was stuffy and full of paperwork.

"Sakura-chan!"

Sakura turned to the familiar voice to face the loud shinobi making its way towards her. As much as it made her happy, she wasn't expecting him. As he came closer, grinning, he jumped and hugged her.

"That's enough, Naruto," Sakura said, releasing herself from Naruto's grasp. "Aren't you supposed to be on a mission right now? With Sai?"

Naruto looked up and thought it over for a second. Then he put his hands behind his head and said, gleaming, "Yeah, I did. But it was easy and we finished early. So I thought I'd visit you!"

Sakura smiled at his energy; Naruto was always full of it.

"I'm fine, Naruto," Sakura responded. "Just have to make a quick stop at a greenhouse a few meters from Konoha, to get some herbs."

Sakura started walking off to the gate when Naruto ran up behind her. "I'll come, too!" he volunteered. Sakura smiled, nodded, and they started off to the greenhouse.

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_Simple, yes? First chapter is done, we know what's happening, we know what's about to happen. So please Review. Yeah, there button down there is there for a reason. Oh, and those of you who don't have an account, just reading free, guess what? These accounts are free! Go get one and show people how much you love their stories! Ok…yeah, I'm done ranting. I'll just start on the second chapter. .since I got it all in my head…_


	2. Chapter 2

_New chapter, enjoy. Then read and review. Because I love them. And if I have to repeat it..AGAIN…that I don't own Naruto…well…I guess I have to repeat it. I DO NOT OWN NARUTO._

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"Is that it, Sakura?" Naruto said, pointing to a little house barely visible. They had been jumping from tree to tree for a few minutes now, quietly. Sakura didn't seem to want to talk so Naruto didn't try to encourage her.

Sakura squinted to where Naruto was pointing and said, "Yeah, that's it, Naruto. We're almost there!"

Eager to get there quickly, Naruto sped off towards the little house and Sakura, not wanting to stay behind, followed. The house was indeed small, but inside, there were herbs everywhere. On the other side from where Sakura and Naruto entered was a young man behind a counter.

In a few minutes, Sakura gathered up all the herbs she needed and paid the man. Satisfied, they left the greenhouse and started walking home, Sakura holding on to the bag she had.

"Should we rush back to Konoha?" Sakura asked her teammate. Naruto, however, seemed to be taken in by nature. He did not respond; he was simply too busy looking around. Sakura looked at the direction he was looking at and began to admire the beauty, too. There were Sakura trees everywhere and beautiful purple, pink and white flowers underneath them. The grass was shimmering with dew and there was a little pond with pebbles around it, full of tiny fish. They had somehow landed into a secret garden of a sort, belonging to the owner of the shop.

"I guess the shop owner didn't want to restrict the herbs from growing in just _one_ place," she said to herself. Immediately she felt as if she was caught in some kind of trance, forced to stare at the beauty forever and ever.

After a few moments of admiring it, Sakura snapped out of it. She turned to Naruto and shook him.

"Naruto, come on!" she said as she shook him. "We have to get back to Konoha!"

Naruto snapped out of his trance and shook his head a little. Then he turned to Sakura and yawned.

"What did I miss?" he asked, sleepily. Sakura sighed and pointed to the direction of Konoha.

"Let's go!" she said, when she shivered. Someone was around. Their charka was hidden, of course, but the sounds of rustling and rushing was _pretty_ obvious.

"Who's there?" she called out. No response. Naruto was about to ask Sakura what she had heard when he heard the rustling, too. They pulled out their kunais simultaneously and waited.

Finally, the rustlings stopped, and they relaxed a little. "Do you think they're gone?" Sakura asked Naruto in a hopeful voice.

"Actually, no," a voice said. "We're right here." From the bushes appeared Itachi and Kisame, both of them emotionless.

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_Joy of joys! This is going somewhere! Read and Review as I write chapter three. If I write out of character, please tell me, if I say something wrong, please tell me, if I DO anything wrong, come on, at least a warning? Oh, and if you have any suggestions for the story, tell me. I'm all open. And don't worry…everyone (at least ill try) will appear at least once in the story._


	3. Chapter 3

_Ok…let me try and remember the chapter…think…think…remember…I wish I could read binary code…ok done. Now to write it. Disclaimer, once more, me not own naruto. Remember that, always. And read and review. In case I do something stupid again (shagnasty214, thanks for telling me),TELL ME. Ok, now to the story._

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Kisame looked over to where Itachi stood, coolly. Both of them looked like they knew exactly what was going on, and Kisame could bet anything that Sakura and Naruto had thought they had planned this all along. But they hadn't.

"Itachi, I thought the plan was to ambush the kyuubi in his home in Konoha," Kisame whispered to the older Uchiha.

Itachi looked at him with a stare that said everything. But in case Kisame didn't get it, he said it out loud, but not loud enough that the little shinobis across from them could hear.

"I know, Kisame," he said as he turned away to face the Konoha ninjas. "But they were just made for an ambush, staring off into space. Same plan, just at a different setting." Kisame nodded.

"What about the kunoichi?" he asked, after a few moments.

"Doubt it she'll get in the way," Itachi responded.

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Sakura, glanced at Naruto, who was looking as serious as he could. She didn't know why they were here, but most likely it had to do with the fact that they wanted Naruto.

"Sakura, you have a plan?" Naruto asked, not looking away from the enemy. Sakura jumped a little, then thought it over.

"It's no use, Naruto," she said. "We can't beat them by ourselves." Her voice was disappointed, but she was still looking for a good strategy herself.

"The only chance we have of defeating them," Sakura said, finally, "Is to send some kage bushins and to get reinforcements." Naruto nodded and began his seals. Soon after, ten shadow clones appeared.

Itachi and Kisame were fully aware of them appearing, and were prepared for any kind of attack Naruto might pull. They were indeed surprised when six shadow clones jumped over them and ran towards Konoha.

_They're trying to get reinforcements!_ Itachi thought right away. From his cloak he took out kunais and flung them at the shadow clones. Naruto's clones were jumping everywhere, from tree to tree, and only two were hit.

_That's good enough for some reinforcements,_ Naruto thought. He chuckled as the rest of his clones jumped down beside him.

"Ok guys," Naruto said to his clones, as if directing an army. "We're going to try and get them as much as possible, you got that?" The clones all stood upright and saluted, repeating a "Sir, yes, Sir!"

"Hit them with all you got!" Naruto continued. The clones gave the same answer.

Naruto smiled that had a hint of mischief in it. "But first," he said, "Let's give them a taste of the Rasengan."

The clones smiled as they began unleashing their attack.

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_This chapter's over. As always, Review it, please. And warn me if I do something stupid. Yes, I admit I make silly mistakes, too. But none I can't fix. I'll see if I can make the next chapter, if not, tomorrow for sure._


	4. Chapter 4

_Chapter 4! Oh god, I can't believe I'm still writing this. Oh wells, it was good in my head, let's see if other people think so._

_**The normal disclaimer coming from me**: I DON'T OWN NARUTO DAMMIT! NOW LEAVE ME IN PEACE!_

_Read and Review, please and thank you. Oh, suggestions welcome._

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The clones stuck together until they reached Konoha. There they split up, hoping to find as much people possible.

The first clone made it to Team Gai's training ground. Strangely, Gai wasn't there. Out of breath, the clone dropped in and collapsed. Immediately the shinobis waiting for their teacher surrounded him.

"Wow, Naruto!" Lee immediately shouted. "What a burst of speed! Gaia-sensai would be proud!"

"Naruto, are you alright?" TenTen asked, turning the boy over.

Realizing what it had to do, the clone stood up quickly and shouted, "Sakura and Naruto need your help! They're in a greenhouse a few meters south from Konoha and they've been ambushed by the Akatsuki!"

"So you're not Naruto?" Lee asked, examining the clone over.

"Of course not, Lee!" Neji said again. "This is one of Naruto's clones, sent to get help."

"Shouldn't we wait for Gai-sensai?" Lee asked the prodigy. "He should know."

"No time!" the clone said, standing up and running away. Lee looked at Neji, who nodded, and they all ran after the clone.

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The second clone was running past a restaurant when it heard Ino's voice shouting.

"Chouji!" she shrieked. "How DARE you eat my food?"

"It's not like _you _were going to eat it," Chouji muttered back. His fingers were on their way to try and take some more, but Ino's mighty fork stopped them. Chouji glanced at her, and was scared because Ino had started seething.

"You two are so _troublesome_," Shikamaru said, laying back on his seat.

That is when the clone ran in and smacked his hands into the table. The three were surprised by this action, although Chouji took this opportunity to try and steal away another morsel of Ino's food.

"You guys, Naruto and Sakura need your help!" the clone screamed right away. Ino and Chouji looked slightly confused. "They're a few meters out south from Konoha and they've been ambushed by Akatsuki! They need your help!"

Shikamaru sighed. "So troublesome," he said. "But we have to do it." He stood up. "One of you go alert Asuma-sensai."

"No time!" Naruto said, speeding off. "Must go back and save myself!"

Shikamaru sighed, and then motioned to his two other teammates. "Let's go." As they took off, Ino looked at her plate. It was empty.

"CHOUJI!"

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The third clone found reinforcements in the park. Kiba was arguing with Shino, and Hinata was trying to calm them down. Akamaru was barking.

"K-Kiba," Hinata tried, holding on to Kiba's shirt. "S-st-stop a-a-arguing with Sh-Shino."

"Not until he takes it back!" Kiba shouted directly at Shino. Shino seemed to be unaffected by this.

"P-P-Please st-stop!" Hinata tried again. Then she looked at Shino. "Sh-Shino ca-can't you st-stop a-arguing with K-Kiba? A-at l-least you sh-should know th-that a-argu-arguing is b-bad for tea-teammates!"

Shino shrugged it off. That's when the clone raced up towards them and stopped in front of Hinata and collapsed on her. Which, of course, led Hinata to shriek and faint. Kiba began to laugh.

"What brought you here today, Naruto?" Kiba asked as he got Naruto off Hinata.

"Naruto and Sakura have been ambushed by the Akatsuki a few meters south from Konoha and we need your help!" the clone shouted. It stood up, tired, and started running back from whence it came.

"We'll be right there, Naruto," Kiba said. He shook Hinata until she woke up, and then dragged her after Naruto, with Akamaru following behind. Shino followed.

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Actually, the fourth clone was the smartest. It started running around everywhere screaming, "May Day! May Day!" This actually got everyone's attention, and they chased after him, trying to shut him up. As he ran into an alley, shouting, he was pulled by the collar to the roof of the building. There was Sai, who was trying to draw a pretty picture.

"Naruto, what's with the screaming?" he asked his friend.

"NARUTO AND SAKURA HAVE BEEN AMBUSHED BY THE AKATSUKI A FEW METERS SOUTH FROM KONOHA AND NEED REINFORCEMENTS!" he screamed at the top of his lungs. Sai stopped holding his ears.

"Wow, Naruto," Sai said, with his fake smile. "You sure _can_ scream. You scream louder than----" He didn't finish. The clone was already on its way back to where it came from. Sai sighed, annoyed he didn't finish his insult, but nonetheless, he followed the clone.

In the shadows, however, was lurking someone who had heard the whole thing. Eagerly, he ran off toward Orichimaru's lair.

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Naruto was exhausted, the real Naruto that is. Itachi had dodged everything he had thrown and had hurt the kyuubi numerous times. Sakura was behind him, healing his every wound.

"There, Naruto," she said, releasing her hands from his back. "You're good again."

Naruto scowled and hit the floor. "Damn!" he said. "How are we going to defeat him?" Looking at Itachi, he saw the three clones he had sent flying over Naruto's head and poofing off. _Shit!_

That's when he heard the swooshes. The reinforcements were coming! Akatsuki noticed, too, giving an angry growl. Around Naruto and Sakura appeared Lee, TenTen and Neji. Behind them appeared Ino, Chouji and Shikamaru. On the trees appeared Hinata, Shino and Kiba, with Akamaru beside him. A little way farther off was Sai. And in front of Naruto and Sakura appeared the four clones Naruto had sent.

Naruto smiled. The battle was just beginning.

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_Thanks for reading thus far. And for those who reviewed, thank you. Keep reviewing. As i said, suggestions welcome._


	5. Chapter 5

_Chapter 5. I wonder what's with the Orichimaru spy? ;) Of course I know, but what do you ALL think? Suggestions welcome._

_**Disclaimer**. Me getting angry at repeating this. I don't own naruto. And never will. Unless you ALL want some changes in it. Sasuke WILL run away but Sakura's attitude…different._

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The minute reinforcements came, it all went downhill for the Akatsuki. Kiba and Akamaru rushed in to face Itachi, Kiba throwing some punches and Akamaru trying to bite him. Itachi moved side to side, dodging Kiba, but was kicked in the back by Lee. Kiba tried to punch him again but Itachi grabbed his hand, and swung him around, knocking Lee on a tree behind Sakura, Akamaru up into the trees and throwing Kiba after Akamaru. Neji ran up to Itachi, dodging the attempt Itachi made to hit him with Kiba, but Itachi punched him off.

Then it started to rain kunais and shurikens mixed with little black birds and bugs. Sakura looked up in the trees to see TenTen, Sai and Shino, TenTen throwing more kunais, Sai drawing more little birds and Shino releasing more of his bugs.

Sakura heard poofs to see Naruto's shadow clones around her. They attacked Kisame, who was too busy looking at the battle Itachi was having, dodging his attacks and hitting him as much as they could. Ino was running around, healing as many people as she could. Shikamaru was up in the trees, observing. Hinata was watching, making sure to avoid the flying people. Chouji had joined in to attack Kisame.

Sakura sure wasn't going to stay behind. She threw a punch on the floor and the earth began to shake…making a big enough hole to fit Itachi and Kisame in. Four Narutos punched Itachi in the face, but then the Akatsuki duo got out. Shikamaru took this chance to use his Shadow Imitation.

Because Itachi and Kisame was strong, Shikamaru could only hold it for a few seconds. But it was enough for Neji and Hinata to hit a few points on both of them. It also was enough for one more Rasengan, more raining kunais and a bite from Akamaru.

Itachi was getting angry. Releasing himself from Shikamaru's shadow technique, he threw all of them to one side. Kisame did the same.

"Itachi, what are we going to do?" Kisame asked his partner. "They're too many for us." Then, in a sly, i-told-you-so way, "I told you we needed reinforcements."

"Shut up, fish," Itachi growled. "I'm going to finish them all of quickly." Then Itachi's eyes began to go red.

Sakura saw this, and quickly closed her eyes. "Everybody, don't look directly at his eyes!" she said. Then she turned around and slowly opened her eyes. Everyone had fallen for it. They were all staring at Itachi's eyes, in horror, to one of Itachi's deadliest genjutsu.

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_Chapter 5 done. Is it just me, or was that short? Bad me O I should have been doing my math homework instead. Ah well, I'll do that later. Go PROCRASTINATION! D Suggestions welcome. Reviews loved, even if you're flaming me (doubt it) P And those of you who have reviewed, I luffs you 3_


	6. Chapter 6

_Chapter…6 is it ? Probably is. I'm pretty light headed right now, but I'll still try to write it. Back to business…the spy not revealed? Eventually he will make its presence. And now that Itachi has them all where he wanted them, what will happen?_

_**Disclaimer**: just because im light headed right know doesn't mean I'll claim naruto. Nothing on earth will make me a sued victim. Never! Now go away, you flying watermelons, you…Go back to pumpkin land._

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Sakura stared in horror at the faces her comrades were making. One by one, they fell on their knees, wherever they were. The Naruto clones were poofing off one by one. The only one left was the one in front of her now. Quickly, she got down and transferred her chakra into his body, the only thing that would cancel out a genjutsu.

Quickly, Naruto blinked back into real life. "What happened, Sakura?" he asked, rubbing his eyes. He looked to his right to try and get a view of the enemy, but Sakura put her hands on his eyes.

"Don't!" she said. "He's using his sharingan to create a genjutsu. I've read about it in Tsunade-sama's notes. Don't look in his eyes."

"So what are we going to do?" Naruto asked his teammate. Sakura looked down in disappointment.

"I don't know," Sakura said. "I think we're done for."

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Kisame stared in awe at the results of Itachi's sharingan. Each of the Konoha shinobis, from his angle, wore horror-stricken faces. This was the power of the almighty sharingan.

"Great job, Itachi," Kisame said. "You got all of them."

"Almost all of them," he said, pointing to the pink haired kunoichi that had turned his back on them. They watched her put her hands on the back of the kyuubi, her hands glowing blue, and then the boy waking up.

"Now what?" Kisame asked. "Are we just going to take the kyuubi or what?"

Itachi smiled, one that made Kisame really scared. "Don't be silly," he said. "We're not going to take him away so quickly. Let's have a little fun first."

Kisame knew this was trouble for the poor girl in front.

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As Sakura spoke those words to Naruto, she looked up to see his shocked face looking above her.

"What is it?" she asked as she turned around. The great sharingan-user, Sasuke's older brother, Itachi Uchiha, stood in front of her. His presence brought the most evilest auras and Sakura felt she might die at any moment. _Suck it up!_ She said to herself as she stared bravely at the man.

What was odd was that he had turned off his sharingan. Didn't he want to kill them off? What was he planning on doing? Will Naruto be in this in any way? Sakura could not figure it out. But sure enough, she wasn't going to let them have her friend.

After a moment's glare, Sakura summoned enough courage to shout to the Akatsuki member, "What do you want?"

Itachi, slightly surprised at anyone shouting at him, grabbed her arms and yanked her up, so they were eye level.

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto screamed immedietly. He couldn't do anything though; Itachi might do something to her. All he could do is watch as Sakura tried to squirm out of his grasp.

"Aren't you the little rebel?" he said, staring into Sakura's green eyes. He was enjoying Sakura's look of terror. Naruto stood up, and was looking from face to face in horror.

"Sakura-chan, hold on!" was all he could say. He tried to kick Itachi but Kisame stood in front of him.

"No chance," Kisame said. Naruto just growled.

Sakura stopped squirming enough to look him back in the eyes. "What do you want?" she asked, saying the words as slowly and filling it with as much anger as she could.

Itachi kept staring in her eyes. "You're the smart one," he said. Sakura's eyes grew wide. "You know exactly what I want."

"No!" she shouted. "You can't have him!" She started to move more and more, trying to free herself. She kicked everywhere madly in an attempt to get free.

"Sakura-chan, what does he want?" Naruto shouted, dodging the kicks that had made their way, in her lack of target, to him. Sakura refused to say anything, so she looked away and kept kicking. After a few more moments, Naruto repeated the question.

"Nooo!" Sakura groaned. "You won't have him!"

"SAKURA-CHAN!" he repeated once more, shouting. "WHAT DOES HE WANT?"

"He wants you, Naruto," Kisame answered. Naruto's eyes widened. Sakura stopped kicking as she did her best to hold her tears.

Moments passed in sheer silence as Naruto looked down on the grass floor. "I'll do it," he said. Sakura turned to face him.

"WHAT?" she shouted. "Naruto, you can't be serious."

"I said I'll do it," he said to Itachi. Itachi released his grip on Sakura's arms and she fell on the grass next to Naruto.

"Naruto, you can't be serious," she repeated, looking up at him. "You can't go. You just can't!" Sakura continued on with her ramblings. He just couldn't. He wouldn't, he couldn't. Then she felt a hand on her shoulder. It was Naruto, and he had that nice-guy pose that reminded her of Gai. He even had that wide smile.

"Don't worry, Sakura-chan!" he said happily. "I'll be back soon." He walked towards the Akatsuki, who had wide smiles, of course Itachi's was not seen. He turned back to face her one more time.

"Take care of the others."

That's when Sakura remembered everyone else. She turned around to see if they were alright. They were still trapped in the genjutsu. She turned back, wanting to see Naruto again, but he was gone.

And so had the Akatsuki.

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_No, Naruto, nuuuuuuu!... oh wait. I actually got into that story. But im not Sakura. Wouldn't want to be in her shoes, though, too much drama. I always thought Naruto and Sakura were more sister-brother than anything. And once your sister is in trouble, the brother usually goes in to help her out in any way possible. So…in turn…the sister will, too._

_Read and Review please. Hope you liked this chapter. _


	7. Chapter 7

_Chapter…7? I guess it is. Whoa this is going great so far. Yaaaaaaaaaay! Ook…hyperness going down. Just ate some ice cream cake, remembers? _

_Disclaimer: If I own Naruto then Naruto is a five-year-old comic book about dinosaurs and how counting helps the body grow. Because this is impossible, I DON'T OWN NARUTO. Actually….that'd be pretty funny. Everybody would have a wtf? Face. _

_Oh, and one thing you might need to know: my ninjas go fast. Konoha to Sound really quick. _

_Oh, and I did my little research, too. Be grateful. Yes, Sakura can do clones, its been proven. She has better chakra control then all of them so she has the ability to make clones. Why she doesn't I'll never know. Maybe clones was Naruto's thing and she didn't wanna steal it. _

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A strange snake-like man stood in front of a pillar, slightly leaning. His hair slightly covered his face, though most would immediately recognize this man as the one who had once tried to take over Konoha. He had a slight frown on his face, the fact coming back to haunt him that he could not use his hands.

After a few moments of slight annoyance, he finally spotted what he wanted. A few yards away, a figure could be seen jumping its way over to where the snake-man was. As it neared, Orichimaru smiled and the figured bowed down to reveal Kabuto.

"Kabuto, so nice you could come," Orichimaru sneered. "What news have you brought?"

Kabuto looked up to his teacher and frowned. "We have a problem, Orichimaru," he said.

The man quickly frowned at the response to his teacher. "What is it?" he said in a serious tone.

Kabuto glanced to his right first, then back at his teacher. "The kyuubi was ambushed by Akatsuki," he muttered.

Orichimaru tried not to wince. _Akatsuki_. The mere mention of the name and he was engulfed with total hatred. With the kyuubi, they would be closer to their goal of world domination. And Sasuke would be angry.

"So did they complete their capture?" Orichimaru asked. Kabuto turned away and pushed up his glasses.

"I did not investigate further," he said, turning his back on Orichimaru. The snake man grinded his teeth while Kabuto smiled and continued. "My evidence shows that he had his clones gather some backup, but due to the probability that the rookie 9 and Gai Team has _not_ advanced since their Chunnin exams, I doubt they, along with the kyuubi and Sakura, would defeat Itachi."

"Such big assumptions from you, Kabuto," Orichimaru said, slightly grinning. "And its like you to be correct—most of the time." Kabuto flinched a little. _Most?_ His guesses were almost always correct.

"Besides," Orichimaru continued. Kabuto quickly stopped lingering in his thoughts to hear what the snake man had to say. "It would upset Sasuke over there to know that Itachi has won."

Kabuto glanced to where Orichimaru had signaled with his eyes. Indeeed, in another pillar, was a shadow with spiked up black hair. No mistaking Sasuke anywhere.

"Itachi will not have his way," Sasuke muttered quietly as both men stared at him. "I'll make sure of it." Kabuto didn't need to look Sasuke in the face to know that he had activated his bloodline. But if he had, sure enough, he would have seen Sasuke and his red eyes staring intently with the instinct to kill.

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Naruto jumped from tree to tree with Kakashi, Gai, Asuma, Kurenai and Tsunade behind him. Glancing back every so often with a "we're close by, hurry up!" Naruto tried his best to hide the fact that he was a _little_ scared for his teammates. The sweat drops meant nothing.

After a while they all came upon an opening where Naruto had left his teammates earlier. He brightened up when he saw a flash of pink.

_Sakura-chan!_ _She's ok! _

She was kneeling down. Next to her was Shikamaru, also bending down. Sakura had her hands on Kiba's back and Shikamaru's hands were on hers so, together, they were sending chakra to Kiba. As the blue light around her fingers faded, Kiba eyes twitched as he came to and Sakura and Shikamaru both sighed simultaneously, Sakura in relief and Shikamaru in the fact that this was one less person.

"SAKURA-CHAN!"

Sakura stood up and turned around in record moment to see the blonde boy running towards her to give her a hug. Behind him were the teachers who were looking around at the scene, questioning this and that. Naruto in her arms, Sakura touched his hair. This wasn't an illusion, at least he was in _front_ of her. Quickly, she centered her chakra but nothing changed. This wasn't genjutsu. This was real.

"N-Naruto?" Sakura said after a while, Naruto still hugging her. She broke from the hug and touched his face. "Naruto is that really you?" Naruto nodded. "How are you here? A few minutes ago I saw you being taken by Akatsuki."

Shikamaru looked from where he was lying down and nodded. "I saw it, too." He said. "How in the world are you here?"

Naruto grinned and quickly put his hands on the back of his neck. He quickly glanced to the teachers, who were looking around and were pouring their chakra in the remaining students who were not awake. "Well, I guess I should explain that part…"

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_Originally, this was gonna be so big chapter. So I shortened it. The rest of it will be the next chapter. Oh all be amazed. All will be. I'm guessing some person reading out there is happy I revealed the sneaky person. Somebody sure is. They just won't admit it._


	8. Chapter 8

_Nuuu! I lost it. I lost the chapter! It got stolen, I swear! Someone's against me….Now I got to write it all over again. And I can't even remember it. Chapter 8, right? The continuation of Chapter 7. Oh yes, I know it by memory. But….procrastination! eh. I'll do my best to write it all over again. Read and Review please._

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Naruto was staring intently into the eyes of his enemy who was far away. His clones were around him and his back up was behind them. Sakura was a few ways behind him. That's when he realized something.

Naruto turned to the clone on his left. "Hey, me," he called to him. "Did you bring Kakashi-sensei with you?"

The Naruto shook his head. "No," he said. "I didn't even see him. Go ask that me over there. Maybe he saw him." The me that was pointed turned at being mentioned and shook his head.

"I didn't even see Gai when I picked the team up," the pointed one responded. Naruto grew impatient.

"Did ANYONE see any teachers?" he shouted to all of them. They all shook their heads. This was definitely trouble. Right now, they had a little chance of beating the Akatsuki, but with Kakashi, they'd have a greater chance. But none of them had brought Kakashi.

"You all searched everywhere, right?" he said, questioning them. They were paying attention to the fight that had just commenced, but they still responded with a yea. _So they weren't anywhere…_

"What about the Hokage Tower?" he asked again, turning to them. He had been walking around in circles to jog some kind of thinking in his head. The clones looked up from where they were. They had been handing their weapons to TenTen to throw. All of them said "no!"

"That's it!" he said. He made some hand signs and five more shadow clones appeared. Quickly, he instructed them to take care of the Akatsuki and to make sure to cover for him until he came back. He was personally going to go get Kakashi and the other teachers.

Before jumping away to Konoha, Naruto turned to his teammates one more time. Then he glanced at Sakura, wondering if she was ok there without him. Seeing her make a hole in the ground pretty much answered his wondering. He smiled and jumped away.

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"OBAACHAN!"

The doors opened in front of her to reveal the blonde rebel kid she had grown to love…except in times like this. _Please, not when the Jounins are in front of me._ The Jounins seemed to know the boy, too. Kakashi put his hand on his face in disbelief that it was Naruto, and Gai seemed a little ticked off.

He was panting a little, his face a little pale, and he made his way over to the desk, and then threw his hands on the desk.

"Tsu-Tsunade-obaachan, me and Sakura were in the woods, collecting some herbs," he started. He sounded like he was rambling. "when the Akatsuki ambushed us so I made some shadow clones like Sakura said and brought some backup but then I noticed that no teachers had been found by my clones so I came personally myself to bring everyone over there. AND NOW WE HAVE TO GO! Come on! Sakura-chan might be in trouble!"

It took a minute for it all to sink in, then a moment to think of a response. Tsunade closed her eyes and stood up, alarming the tired kid a little.

"Let's go," she said. Addressing the jounins, "The mission you have been given will be executed later on, discussed after we visit the site Naruto will give us. After examining the site and confirming Akatsuki attacks, as well as defeating said Akatsuki if they are still there, we will confirm if those said back up are still there and make sure no one got hurt. Now let's move it!"

Naruto's face beamed at Tsunade's immediate order. Without a moment to spare, he ran to the door and opened them up again, rushing back to where he had left his teammates with two of Konoha's deadliest enemies.

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"And _that's_ how I'm here."

Sakura's eyes were wide in disbelief. Naruto was beaming. So then the Naruto she had seen a few minutes ago being taken…_wasn't_ him?

Naruto took this moment of silence to look around. There was a hole in the ground, Sakura was definitely responsible for that one, and lots of kunais everywhere. His teammates were coming to. Shikamaru was still on the floor, but he was staring at Naruto and not at the clouds.

"So," Naruto said. "You didn't tell me what happened here." Sakura wasn't paying attention. She was analyzing the information in disbelief and horror.

"Itachi beat us," Shikamaru said in his trademark tone. "he used some kind of genjutsu and I saw my death. By the time I came to, Sakura had poured her chakra in me and woken me up. But she told me what happened. She said you ran off with Akatsuki in exchange for your fellow teammate's safety."

Naruto scratched his back. "I would've done that." He said. Then he turned to Sakura. "Was he _really_ convincing, Sakura?"

Sakura looked up from her thoughts and faced him with a fake smile. "He was really convincing alright," she said. "He convinced me pretty well. You're clones are good, Naruto."

Naruto smiled, making sure to keep his posture. Sakura had just complimented him, what was he going to do? Sakura's smile faded a little as she looked away. Naruto noticed this, and quickly asked, "Is there something wrong, Sakura?"

"I'm not the only one who fell for a clone," she said, her eyes far away from his. A moment later, she poofed off.

Naruto stood there, in awe. He had fallen for a shadow clone. So where was the real Sakura?

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Sakura jumped from tree to tree, practically hugging each of them and looking over them to make sure that she was still following Akatsuki's tracks. No way they were going to take Naruto away from her. Orichimaru had taken Sasuke away, she didn't want another friend gone.

Sakura made sure to keep her distance, but not too far to lose them. She had kept her word to Naruto and her friends were safe with her clone and Shikamaru. In a few minutes, the clone should be done waking up everyone.

Suddenly, Sakura hit a dead end._ What was this?_ Where was Naruto and the Akatsuki? _A trap!_ She thought immediately. _Well, I'm not gonna fall for it._

Sakura jumped away from the dead end and stood on a branch, listening. It was really quiet. Naruto usually would make some kind of noise by now. To alert her. That's when she felt a little surge of knowledge entering her brain.

_Naruto's a clone! The real Naruto is back with the rest of the team!_

_Oh, thank goodness!_ Sakura was very much relieved. She sighed deeply, and just about when she was going to make her first step back to Konoha, a kunai was thrown and it missed her. But it had hugged her cheek, and now she had a straight red line on her face.

Sakura turned to the left, where the kunai had come from. No one. Who or _what_ was trying to keep her away from getting to Konoha? Turning around, her question was answered.

"Hello there, Sakura is it?"

Her eyes widened. In front of her was Itachi again, but Kisame had disappeared.

"Looks like you fell for the Naruto clone, too."

They had figured it out, too. Of course, how could she be so foolish? Naruto disappears in a puff of smoke, just like his clone, and she expected the Akatsuki to do what, disappear? No, they would obviously look for him, and they had found her instead.

Itachi glared at her. Sakura lowered her head and looked at the floor. It was useless to try and run away, he would catch her. She could feel Itachi grinning underneath that coat of his. _This wasn't fair!_ She had no chance against Itachi, plus she only had a little bit of chakra left. That's when a little flash of hope passed through her head. _Naruto!_ He wouldn't want her to give up so easily. And that's what she would do. Sakura looked up, gleaming, as she pulled out a kunai.

"I thought you were smarter than that, Sakura."

"Don't want to give up without a fight, Itachi. Someone very close to me taught me that."

Itachi could probably guess who it was, Sakura didn't care. And she sure wouldn't fall for that jutsu the others had. So what could Itachi do that would inevitably defeat her? She expected some kind of strong jutsu, and what she got was a head-on attack.

_Punch, dodge, kick, dodge, jump, left, uppercut, dodge, jump, jump! I can do this! I can do this! But all the while, I'm getting weaker. He's draining my chakra through physical combat. Pretty soon, I'll faint from exhaustion if he keeps up. _

_And it worked._

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_What's charka and why is spell check always changing chakra into charka? Stupid spell check. Oh wells. Sakura finally got a little bit of fighting and not-giving-up esteem! Cha! That's what you needed! Review please. At least chapter 8 is done. Suggestions welcome. Because right now im blank._


	9. Chapter 9

_Chapter 9. After a good long while, finally chapter 9. I know it took too long. Procrastination! I swear! And…well…not enough inspiration. And the computer hates me. Sorry for those who were waiting...but wait no longer! For now..._

_**Disclaimer:** Naruto and I broke up. I don't own him anymore, nor did I ever own him._

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Itachi continued walking in the woods. He had the pink kunoichi in his hands, bridal-style, and she was unconscious. His mind was in the last few moments before he actually caught the girl.

The pink girl was actually pretty good, and fairly strong for a girl. He couldn't use his sharingan; she knew if his eyes turned red, it wasn't good. Of course, weapons would have been a good choice…if he'd brought any.

Only chance was to weaken her already-weakened self. His last hit was one to the stomach, and she had been thrown a little backwards. But she jumped back up, tried to do the same, but he dodged and she had hit him in the arm instead. Facing him once more, panting, she looked like she was going to hit him again, but instead fell to the floor.

After a few minutes, he knew she had actually fallen unconscious, and wasn't faking it. He picked her up and wasn't very surprised at how light she was. As he walked, he smirked at the thought that he had something now against the kyuubi.

Walking on, his eyes quickly glanced at a sound he heard.

"Show yourself, Kisame," Itachi muttered. "No one else is around." Kisame swiftly appeared next to him in a few moments.

"What about the girl?" he asked, pointing to the girl Itachi had in his hands. Itachi glanced down at her and then lifted his hands up to Kisame.

"You carry her," he said. He let go of the girl, causing her to fall and land on Kisame's hands, who had quickly shifted to catch her. Kisame slightly grumbled, annoyed that it was because of _his_ mouth that he had to carry this girl. After a few moments of silence, Kisame spoke once more.

"What are we going to do with her?" he said, not bothering to look at Itachi.

"We'll just lay a simple trap for the kyuubi," Itachi said. They continued walking on until Kisame spotted a cave. That would be the perfect setting for their trap.

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"Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaat?"

"How troublesome," Shikamaru said after a moment, scratching his head. "Now I have to repeat it." They were all out of the forest and into Tsunade's office. Everyone who had been present, even the jounins, were in the presence of the Godaime.

Naruto wasn't even paying attention. He was running around in circles, repeating it into his mind. Shikamaru watched him for a moment, slightly leaning on the wall. He sighed.

"Sakura went after you because _you_ got caught by the Akatsuki… or should I say your clone…?" Shikmaru was, not in the least, interested by this information. Ino was beside him, and she had a face of pure terror. Anyone could either guess she was remembering the genjutsu she had just witnessed, or was thinking about Sakura's fate.

"This is bad," Tsunade said. She was thinking thoroughly the whole situation. "In her state, Sakura most likely was caught by Akatsuki. We need to send a rescue team to bring her back." She sighed and looked down. "But the jounins are needed for another important, deadly, S-ranked mission. They have to attend that mission first, then get Sakura."

The jounins nodded and poofed off. Naruto was very annoyed at this reaction.

"Whaat?" he shouted again. Every rookie looked up from where they all had stood with their heads hung low. Naruto sure knew how to get people's attention.

"You're just going to forget about Sakura-chan?" Naruto shouted again in anger.

Tsunade slunk down to her desk. "Unfortunately," she said. "We can't ignore the other S-ranked mission. It's a chance to earn more trust from the Sand Village."

Naruto crossed his arms and muttered something. "Gaara already likes us," he said, loudly. "We've already earned his trust."

"Not just the Kazekage's trust, Naruto," Tsunade said, taking a cup and taking a sip of sake out of it. "We need to earn ALL of the Sand's shinobi's trusts. And we can only do that by helping them out when they need it." Naruto was still not happy with that answer. "Because I sent out all the jounins, they should be back in a few hours or so. For now, we need some volunteers to find a trace of Sakura."

"No need." The voice was faint, but just loud enough for everyone to turn to the speaker. It was Shino who had spoken up. "When I attacked Uchiha with my massive amount of bugs, some of them still remained on him, probably still with him right this moment. The females, by now, must have their scent all over him. As you can recall from the Chunnin Exams a long time ago, the female's scent is nearly nonexistent, and only the males of ths same species can trace the scent of the females. The rest of the males that I still have can lead us to his lair, and get us to where Sakura-san might be."

Naruto's face brightened with the information. Tsunade nodded. "Very well," she said. "Aburame, you will accompany Naruto, Hyuuga Neji, Sai and Nara to rescue Haruno. When the jounins come back, Inuzuka will lead them, following your scents, to you guys. So don't try and hide them unless necessary. Hyuuga Hinata, you go with him in case we lose their scent. This is an S-ranked mission for you all."

"Gotcha, Tsunade-obaachan!" Naruto shouted happily. Ignoring Tsunade's slight wince at the title, Naruto quickly turned to those she had assigned him to. "Come on, guys, let's go save Sakura-chan!"

"What about the rest of us, Hokage-sama?" Lee asked, walking closer to the desk. Tsunade closed her eyes and thought about it for a moment.

"Currently, the most important mission is to rescue Sakura," Tsunade started, opening her eyes and facing the whole crew. "We could use some of you as backup, but you'll be putting yourselves in danger---"

"I don't care, Hokage-sama," Lee said, full of passion. "I'll do anything to rescue my sweet cherry blossom!"

"Me too!" Ino shouted from the corner, standing up from where she was leaning, next to Shikamaru. Although her voice was full of determination, a hint of fear could be detected. Shikamaru glanced at her, a little surprised at her outburst, but then again, Sakura _was_ Ino's best friend. And probably still is.

"If any enemies appear, I'm afraid Yamanaka won't be of much use," Tsunade said, looking up. Ino looked down in shame; she didn't have Sakura's strength. "But we do need medical ninjas, which means, Ino, you cannot put yourself in any danger whatsoever." Ino looked back up and smiled graciously. "TenTen, you go, too." TenTen looked up from where she was sulking. "We need your weapons expertise." TenTen nodded.

"Alright then!" Naruto shouted, waking everyone up in the room. "Let's go save Sakura-chan!" Nobody moved. "Now!"

The room looked at the Hokage, who smiled and nodded. Shino, Shikamaru, Neji and Sai followed Naruto, who had jumped out of the window already, walkie-talkies in hand. TenTen and Lee walked over and watched them run off.

"I guess all we can do is wait now," Ino said sadly, still in her corner. TenTen, Hinata and Lee nodded. Kiba didn't bother to respond; they all knew the answer to that question.

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Sasuke stood on a tree above the entrance to Konoha, his eyes piercing and cold. He had just reached the village and, although he didn't show it, was every exhausted. He sighed once more, getting ready to jump into the village and sneakily gather more information when a flash of blonde caught his eye. Of course, it could have been Ino, he had thought of that slight possibility, when he saw some _orange_ under it. Naruto.

Sasuke made his way closer to where Naruto was running towards, being followed closely by Shino, Shikamaru, Neji, and a new kid. They immediately whizzed past him, and Sasuke ran to catch up, trying his best not to be caught by the Hyuuga's Byakugan.

"Shikamaru, do you already have a rescue plan?" Neji shouted to Shikamaru.

"If you mean a battle strategy, yes," Shikamaru said, jumping from his last tree to a new one. "Unfortunately, Akatsuki might have the upper hand when it comes to territory." Seeing Naruto's confused face, he added. "We have no idea where we're going to fight. They probably know, and might have traps ready for us."

"Doesn't matter," Naruto shouted to them, narrowly dodging a branch. "We'll rescue Sakura-chan no matter what!"

_So Sakura got captured instead._ Sasuke scoffed as he continued running behind them. _Figures. That girl was always weak._

"Shino, are we getting closer?" Naruto shouted. He had slowed down so Shino was in front of him and he was between Shikamaru and Neji.

"Naruto, you dobe," Sai shouted to him. Sai was in the back. "Of course we're getting closer. We can't get any farther."

"Shut up, Sai!" Naruto shouted to him. Then turned towards Shino. "Shino, how far do we have to go?"

"It's still a good long way from here," Shino said, not bothering to look backwards.

"Neji, you might want to scan the area," Shikamaru said. "Just in case."

Neji nodded, and Sasuke quickly stopped in his tracks. _Damn that Byakugan!_ He'd have to be careful all through this mission…well, at least until he got to the destination. He didn't want them to figure him out…they'd probably want to bring him back to Konoha, and he still hasn't finished training with Orichimaru. This would be the only favor he'd do them. _It's not even a favor. I just don't want Itachi to win._

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_They're all there….waiting…to save Sakura! Friendship is so great…and even Sasuke's following to help out. I just realized that this is a NaruSaku in disguise. Wow…I even fooled myself. R&R. I love responding. )_


	10. Chapter 10

_Chapter 10. After a good long while, finally chapter 10. I know it took too long. Procrastination! I swear! And…well…not enough inspiration. And the computer hates me. So..yeah. Long chapter for your sakes._

**_Disclaimer:_**_ Standard. I don't own Naruto._

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Itachi scanned the cave once more with his sharingan eyes, then turned to Kisame who still had an unconscious Sakura in his arms. "I have to admit, this turned out better than expected.." he said with an amused look.

He went inside the cave and Kisame followed. After a few moments of walking, Kisame noticed they were going through a tunnel leading downwards. To the sides were doors that resembled walls and some torches that looked like they hadn't been lit in years. Reaching a dead end at last, Itachi pushed open the door to his left. Inside there were some rope, some kunais, a walkie-talkie and other supplies. He smirked, then pushed open the door to the right. There were chains on the wall, ready for any prisoner.

"What's the plan, Itachi?" Kisame said, putting down the girl so she looked like she was sitting, leaning on the cave wall. Her head rested down, her face covered by her cotton candy hair.

"First of all," Itachi said, turning to Kisame and throwing the walkie-talkie to him. "Go bring back some reinforcements…nearest village must have some shinobis we can hire. Take some of the Akatsuki funds, I could care less. And bring Deidera, too." Itachi pointed to the walkie-talkie. "See if you can find anybody using that thing. It might prove useful."

Kisame grinned and looked over to Itachi. "What if it's the kyuubi and his pals?" he said, wondering how Itachi will react. Itachi, however didn't react any differently.

"Stall them." He simply stated. "Make sure the kyuubi and the kyuubi alone comes here."

"What about the girl?" Kisame said, his thoughts immediately remembering the pink girl he just set down.

"That's what the kyuubi and his _pals_ are coming here for," Itachi said. "In the clearing a few hours ago, the shadow clone gave itself up without a fight for the girl. And the girl tried to rescue him in return. There's a great chance that the real kyuubi is going to try and rescue her back." He stopped, then continued. "Konoha is also famous for not leaving any shinobis behind. I doubt this one is an exception."

"And if she wakes up?" Kisame said. "This girl is a little rebel. She won't take the news of being a prisoner kindly."

Itachi's eyes began to glow red. "That's what the Mangekyu Sharingan is for."

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It took a while to realize it, but Sakura eventually realized that she was lying on a cave wall. Her thoughts and memories rushed into her head as she opened her eyes slowly. It was a dark room and Sakura wondered what she was doing here. If anything, she was a prisoner right now and needed to escape. Sakura stood up and felt the wall. It was solid hard rock, but some areas were sturdy and brittle enough to…

BOOM!

The noise echoed, but Sakura didn't care. She just made a hole through the wall, and a pretty big one, too. The wall fell down to reveal a tunnel. Just as she was about to make her first step out into the tunnel, a portion of the wall in front of her slowly went backwards. The portion actually looked like a cut-out form of a door. Sakura realized it was. As the door went backwards, it revealed a room behind it. And from that door stepped out Itachi, with his red eyes. Sakura had no chance to protect herself and fell into the power that was the Sharingan.

Sakura knew it was a genjutsu right away. The room around her turned red and she was chained to a tombstone with her name on. Five Itachis appeared before her, and they all drew their swords. Sakura wanted to shout something out, but she couldn't speak. She wanted to attack, but she couldn't move.

The Itachis unsheathed their swords. Sakura felt an immense pain after that as all five Itachis plunged their swords into her at different places. _So this is the power of the Mangekyu Sharingan. Horrible._

After all five swords were plunged in deep, they withdrew their swords and disappeared. Sakura sighed, hoping this was over with. The _whish!_ sounds, however, proved that there was more to come. She looked up to see one more Itachi than last time. They took out their swords once more, plunged them into her, pulled them off and disappeared.

And this continued again and again in her mind. Sakura tried to handle the pain, but it became harder as each increasing blow happened. And the time between the blow into Sakura and the pulling out of the sword became slower, causing more pain. Every blow became unbearable, and Sakura was surprised how she could just sit there, chained to the tombstone.

Itachi watched Sakura, his Sharingan activated. Sakura was on the floor, kneeling, her eyes blank and her face full of terror. He smiled a terrible smile; his plan was going perfect. He turned to the shadows and shouted, "Kisame!" The blue man appeared from the shadows that Itachi had faced.

"Pick up this girl and chain her up in the room over there," Itachi said as he motioned Kisame to the room where he had seen chains on the walls. "The Mangekyu Sharingan will keep her busy for a while."

Kisame looked down at the girl on the floor, bent down, picked her up and walked towards the room that Itachi had shown him. Reaching the room, Kisame put down the girl and realized that the chains on the walls were too big for her. He put her down on the floor, found some extra chains and chained her whole body. Before leaving the room, he looked at the kunoichi one more time. Sakura was kneeling on the floor, her whole body chained to absolutely nothing in particular, just wrapped around her so she wouldn't escape. She was leaning a little forward, so her hair was covering her face a little. Kisame knew that under the cotton candy hair was the terror-faced expression from the Mangekyu Sharingan. Even after its taken its toll on you, it affects you. But it affects the user more. Kisame chuckled a little, and then got out of the room. Itachi was outside of the room, and Kisame almost ran in to him.

"Did you contact the others?" Itachi asked quickly.

"Yes," Kisame said. "Deidera said he had something in store for Konoha, to stall them a little. Hired ninjas are surrounding this cave as we speak, ready to kill. Also...I have located the rescue team for the pink girl over there..." he pointed to the spot where he had left Sakura.

"How many?" Itachi asked quickly.

"Four are accompanying the kyuubi," Kisame replied. "I'll have the hired ninjas take out the four."

"Excellent," Itachi said, not bothering to question Deidera's plans. "Sent them out immediately. Now all that's left is to wait…"

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"Damn it, can you people rest any faster?" Naruto shouted. He was on the grass floor, shouting at the rest of his teammates who were around him, resting on some trees.

"I'm sorry, Naruto, but we need a rest," Shikamaru replied in his monotone. "At the pace you set us on, we're a little bit tired. How troublesome." He muttered those last words, but Naruto still caught them. Suddenly, a sudden trembling around his leg got Naruto's attention. He took out of his pocket the walkie-talkie given to him, and pressed his ear. Someone was trying to contact them, but all he heard were "Zzzzt" sounds.

Neji noticed it, too. He walked a little bit closer to Konoha and listened.

"Help!" that voice sounded like TenTen. "---_ZZzzt_---Konoha---_ZZzzt_---under attack---_Zzzt_---explosives---_ZzzZz_----Sakura---"

"Sakura-chan?" Naruto shouted as he heard the pronunciation of his best friend. He rushed to where Neji was, grabbing the walkie-talkie from the prodigy's hands and jumping a little bit closer to the direction of Konoha. then he pressed his ears and listened. This time, it was Kiba's voice.

"Konoha is under attack---_Zzzt_---_Bark bark_!"

"This is bad," Shikamaru said, appearing next to Naruto. This scared Naruto enough to fall backwards, throwing the walkie-talkie in the air. Shikaru caught it.

"This is Shikamaru, how's the situation over there?" He said, speaking to the walkie-talkie.

"Shikamaru," Ino's voice rung out. "There are shinobi running around from--_Zzzt_---and a giant bird--_Zzzt_--explosives. TenTen's throwing kunais at it. Lee has already knocked out---ZZzt---and Hinata and I are running around everywhere healing--_ZZzzt_---"

"Do you need us over there?" Neji said, taking the walkie-talkie from him.

"No, I can handle it, Neji," TenTen's voice said, the sound of explosions in the background.

"Indeed, the power of youth will prevail," Lee's voice was heard.

"G-go rescue S-sakura-san," Hinata's voice whispered.

Neji turned to face his teammates. "You heard them," Neji said. "We have to rescue Haruno as quickly as possible."

"This attack on Konoha is probably a diversion to get us to go back, reducing the number in Sakura's rescue team," Shikamaru said, then smirked. "I guess they didn't think Konoha's ninjas were tough."

"Let's go already!" Naruto shouted. "Sakura-chan might be in greater danger! Shino, lead the way!"

Shino nodded and jumped to a nearby branch. The others followed, one by one, with Neji in the back. He, however, was looking around everywhere with a doubtful face. A few meters behind him, Sasuke frowned. The prodigy was on to him.

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"Konoha is under atack--ZZzt---"

Itachi's attention turned to the walkie-talkie in Kisame's hands. Kisame looked at it, too, and nodded. "Deidera has already begun his plan," Kisame stated. Itachi nodded.

"What about the hired ninjas?" Itachi asked.

"They've been sent just now," Kisame said, pointing to the outside of the cave. "Fifteen of them, assassin ninjas. Ten of them are outside of the cave, waiting."

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"Neji, I need you to use your byakugan up front," Shikamaru said. "I have a bad feeling..."

Neji did as he was told, and his eyes widened. "Fifteen ninjas up front. Seven of them 16 meters northwest. Three of them 20 meters north. Five of them 17 meters northeast."

Shikamaru turned to Sai. "Might want to send some birds up there with explosive notes, Sai," Shikamaru said as Sai nodded. He took out his ink and his sketch pad, and then stopped at a nearby tree. The rest of the team continued until they saw fifteen small black birds flew over their heads.

"Stop for now," Shikamaru said. "Let's wait until Sai catches up. Neji, look up ahead. Did they fall for it?"

Neji activated his byakugan. "Five of them are knocked out," he stated. "Two ninjas northwest, One north and Two northeast. The rest have scattered and are moving around too much for me to pinpoint exactly where they are."

Shikamaru nodded. "Neji and Sai," he said as he singled them out. Sai, who was trying to catch his breath, had made it to a nearby tree. "Both of you go in front. Neji, alert Sai whenever one is too close, at least, say, 4 meters distance. Sai, you send your creatures after them to lure them out, and we'll do the rest."

Neji and Sai nodded. Neji turned up ahead, and he looked back at Shikamaru. "Five ninjas getting closer from the northwest as I speak."

"Get ready, guys," Shikamaru said as he took out a kunai. Naruto, Sai, Neji and Shino nodded.

A few moments later, Five ninjas with a crossed out rock headband appeared in front of them. They were all chuckling. "These are the brats we're supposed to kill?" one of them joked. He took out a kunai. "Too easy."

He quickly stopped and his eyes widened. "Why you..." he muttered as he looked down. His shadow was now connected to Shikamaru.

"Heh," Shikamaru smirked. "Easy, are we?" He put his hands in the air. "Come on, guys, finish them off."

Naruto smirked as he activated his kage bunshin no jutsu. Three Narutos appeared next to him. "Rasengan, you guys," he said, and they all nodded. _Rasengan!_ One enemy was down. He turned to the one that Shikamaru had gotten a hold of.

"You want me to take care of him?" Naruto asked.

"If you insist," Shikamaru said. Naruto ran with his kage bunshins and they all started beating up the traitor ninja.

"Nothing beats good old butt kicking," Naruto said as he clapped his hands. He turned to the others. "How are you guys doing?"

"Seen worse," Sai said as he crossed his arms. A rock nin fell to the floor next to him. There was ink over him and many open wounds. Nearby was Shino and another body on the floor. There were bugs on top of his.

"Byakugan! Hakke Rokujuuyonshou!" Neji called as he pushed thirty-two strikes on one opponent. He fell next to Neji after he finished.

"Neji, don't you think that was a little _too_ much?" Naruto asked him. Neji shook his head.

"After sixteen strikes, he was still standing," Neji stated. He looked up ahead. "Two north, Three northeast."

"Everyone, stand your ground," Shikamaru said, looking around. His teammates nodded and they waited. A minute passed and nothing. Five minutes came and passed.

"Neji, what's going on?" Shikamaru asked, glancing at the prodigy.

"They're ahead on a tree branch 3.2 miles away," Neji said. "Looks like they're waiting for us."

"That's it!" Naruto shouted out from where he stood. "I can't take this! I'm going ahead to save Sakura-chan!" He started running up north.

"Naruto, get back here!" Shikamaru shouted from where he stood. "You don't know what you're getting yourself into!"

"Don't worry, I'll be alright," Naruto shouted as he jumped into a tree branch and jumped to another. Shikamaru growled and looked at Neji.

"What's happening up there?" Neji asked him. Neji turned to the direction Naruto had run and activated his Byakugan.

"He's running up ahead," Neji said as he watched. His eyebrows furrowed. "What's this?"

"What is it?" Shikamaru said as he glanced to Neji.

"Naruto just passed by them and they didn't do anything," Neji said in a serious tone.

"Then that means..." Shikamaru started.

"Naruto is running into a trap." Sai finished. "We're dealing with the Akatsuki, which means.."

"Everyone!" Neji suddenly shouted to them. "They're advancing to us. Get ready." He eyed something in the bushes, running ahead. "Shikamaru, there's also a figure running up ahead behind Naruto. Looks like the Uchiha if you ask me."

"What's he up to?" Shikamaru asked. Neji shrugged.

"I dunno…if he's friend or foe," Neji said. "Just in case, I'll call backup."

"Good," Shikamaru said. "Someone has to go ahead and follow Naruto as backup, in case he runs into trouble." He turned to Sai. "You go ahead. Follow sneakily and attack whenever Naruto's in trouble. Got it?" Sai nodded. "Good, now go." Sai took off.

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"Haruno Rescue Team, calling backup," Neji's voice rung out in the walkie talkie.

"This is Konoha's Handsome Green Beast talking," Lee's voice said. "We'll be on our way."

"We also have a problem," Shikamaru's voice was heard. "We're being attacked by five rock nins—"

"More coming—" Neji interrupted.

"And the dobe has gone ahead to rescue Sakura by himself," Shikamaru continued. "Sai has gone as backup."

"Come as quickly as possible," Shikamaru said.

"We're on our way!" Lee's voice said and then all was quiet.

Itachi looked at the walkie talkie near him and turned to Kisame. "Looks like it's working," he said to the blue man-fish. "Send some more ninjas to distract the kyuubi's backup. I'll meet up with him here. If anyone else comes, Kisame, it's your job to dispose of them." Kisame nodded.

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_Yes, it took forever. Procrastination sucks. But this chapter is long enough to make up for it. Reviews loved and Replied to, all the time. _


	11. Chapter 11

_Do do do. Dodododo. So, I'm here, now what? Oh yeah...post the chappie...Chapter 11. Fighting will ensue and such. And whatever my mind wants to happen. I just realized Inner Sakura shut her mouth. The world is ending!_

**_Disclaimer_**Standard

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Sakura winced once more as twenty Itachi's plunged their sword into her body once more. She was getting used to the increasing pain. She tried to move her hands once more, but she couldn't. Sakura wasn't going to give up that easily. She tried anyways to break the genjutsu and maybe get some kind of movement.

"**We'll break this! Cha!**" her inner self shouted, and Sakura, with this new boost of self esteem, continued enduring the swords and centering her chakra. "**Itachi, you can't beat us!**"

Meanwhile, Itachi, who was in the room with the kunoichi, noticed something different about her. He had come to make sure she was still helpless and in the genjutsu state so she wouldn't be trouble when the kyuubi came. She, however, was struggling; her eyes indicated so. Her eyes, closed, would close tightly and then relax every so often. She was somehow trying to break the spell. He chuckled a little because it was useless. He didn't want her moving, so maybe it was time to power up the genjutsu and hurt her a little more, maybe mess her up. His eyes glowed red once more with the power of the Uchiha Sharingan.

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The swords were drawn out of her body once more, but Sakura didn't care. Sure, it hurt, but she was busy trying to center her chakra and release her hands. She expected any minute for them to all disappear, and they all did. Except for one. This was different, something was wrong.

She glanced up from her position and saw that the Itachi didn't have a sword. She tried to move, and realized that she could move her hands once more. She turned her head and noticed that the tombstone was gone. She stood up from where she had been sitting and looked around her. The dark atmosphere that had circled her was clearing up and, in the horizon, the sun started to rise. It rose, with its beautiful colors, really quickly until it reached high in the sky and it looked around noon. Trees were under the sun now and the ground was grass. She quickly turned to the Itachi that she had seen earlier, but he had gone.

Her surroundings looked like a training ground. Her mind wandered to Konoha and her friends. Maybe she had broken the spell. Just _Maybe_...

No. She couldn't let herself be fooled. She was still in the genjutsu, a hostage to two Akatsuki members. She had to be alert for whatever the Mangekyu Sharingan was going to make her believe and, most importantly, try and break this spell.

The bushes rustled and Sakura got into battle stance. The rustling continued. "Itachi, just come out!" Sakura shouted angrily as she took out her kunai, ready to fight. She was a little surprised she could talk. She lowered her voice to a growl. "I'll kill you."

A shadow jumped out of the bushes quickly. Sakura shot her kunai and quickly took out a new one. Her previous kunai, though shot perfectly, missed the shadow, who jumped behind a tree.

"Just come out, you coward!" Sakura shouted angrily again. Whoever was behind that trunk of that tree didn't move. _That's it_.

Sakura charged towards the tree with the kunai in her hand. The shadow behind the trunk panicked at little and ran into the woods. Sakura followed, noting that the shadow was moving fast and jumping everywhere so she couldn't tell who the figure was. She put her hands together, careful with the kunai, and quickly made a sign. _Poof!_

The figure, at this sound, stopped near a trunk of a tree and started panting. At that moment, Sakura poofed right in front of him and pinned him to the tree, holding him up with one hand and the other pointing the kunai at his neck. Her eyes widened after she recognized the figure, though.

"N-Naruto?" Sakura said, looking into the, _strangely_, scared blue eyes of the figure she was clutching up. Releasing her kunai, which clunked as it fell, her grip on the orange-black suit of her teammate and friend slowly released until he fell to the floor. Sakura's eyes were still huge, staring at the spot she had seen Naruto's eyes.

On the floor, though, the boy was chuckling evilly. Sakura was even more shocked by this, and she slowly looked down. His hair was covering his eyes, but you could see an evil smirk pasted on his face. He looked up at her, amused.

"Happy to see me, Sakura-chan?" he said with an evil smile. Sakura stepped back slowly. He stood up, grabbing on to the trunk. Behind the trunk came out another figure, this time TenTen. "I came to save you, Sakura-chan."

"Sakura-san, it's true, Naruto-san came to save you," TenTen told her with an evil smile, sslightly leaning on the bark of tree. "And so did we."

Behind the trunk came out every one: Neji, Shikamaru, Kiba, Hinata, Ino, Lee, Shino, Sai, Kakashi and even Tsunade with Shizune behind her, holding on to the piggy. They all had an evil smirk on their faces. Slowly and almost simultaneously, they all took out kunais.

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Naruto, racing his way towards what he thought was the right way, saw that there were ten ninjas ahead. He frowned, but continued to run, summoning five kage bunshins. He nodded to his clones and they went ahead of him.

"Bunshin Tai Tatakai (Clone Body Attack)!" the Clones shouted as they knocked out seven of the ninjas ahead. They poofed after being destroyed. Three of the enemy ninjas, however, stood up. Naruto expected to fight these once he reached them, but they, amazingly, took steps away to let him through/ After he passed by, they closed up and got ready to fight. Naruto expected a trap of some sort, but after three minutes of nothing happening, he decided to focus on Sakura. He would have, too, if there wasn't a blur-faced person ahead.

Behind him, the ten ninjas were standing once more after waking up the other four that Naruto had knocked out. Sai was forced to stop in front of them after they started throwing shurikens. He took out his scroll and started drawing his birds, but was distracted by a squirrel making his way. He quickly jumped away after he noticed that the squirrel had an explosive tag and he made it away in time. He noticed, from the corner of his eye, a shadow pass by through the trees. This was enough distraction for one of the ninjas to take advantage and punch him, sending him flying. Sai stood up and got ready to fight.

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"Jyuuken!" Neji shouted as he hit a ninja and he fell. He looked around to the remaining of the ninjas that were attacking his friends. He activated his Byakugan in the direction of Konoha. "Backup is coming."

TenTen jumped from a tree nearby and threw shurikens that came pouring down on the enemies, now surrounding the Neji, Shino and Shikamaru, pinning the enemy to the floor. Lee came out from a bush somewhere and started punching the ninjas nearby. Neji took this distraction to continue knocking down the nins around him until all of them were knocked out on the floor.

"Anybody hurt?" Ino said, coming out of the bushes. She rushed to where they all were and started looking them over worriedly. "Neji-san, that's a nasty cut you have over there." She placed her hands on Neji's arm that had a huge scar and her hands began to glow. After the scar had finished healing, she yanked her hands away to check the others.

"Hey, guys! The Jounins have come back!" a voice rung out between static. Neji, Lee and TenTen took out their walkie-talkies to listen, once more, to Kiba's happy voice. "The other ninjas over here have everything take care of; the enemy is fleeing. We're on our way!"

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_Another chappie. It took longer but I was kinda **rushed**__because of my friends who claim they hate authors that take too long to update. I swear, it's not on purpose! Plus, I'll update more when I get my laptop…on Friday! I swear! Oh, read and review please 3 _


	12. Chapter 12

_Chapter 12. Updated now faster thanks to...LAPTOP! WOOO! But Windows Vista is soo hard to understand. I don't even think I have spell-check installed. Oh wait...**there's** the spell check button. Niiice. By the way, some of your reviews, I swear, they just encourage me to continue writing. No sarcasm intended. Dead serious, those random ones in caps lock telling me to update are the ones that keep me at it. I luffs you._

**_Disclaimer_**_: Logic doesn't want me to own it._

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After a few minutes of just following this dobe, Sasuke was dumb bored. He seriously had thought following Naruto would be much more fun, considering this _was_ the number one hyperactive ninja in Konoha and the "future hokage." But all this guy does was put on an anxious determined face, probably because he wanted to save his precious _Sakura-chan._ He was probably too stupid to even get there unharmed. Sasuke's suspicion was confirmed when Naruto tripped out of nowhere, apparently too into his thoughts, and fell off the branch; a one way ticket down to the floor with his face flat on the ground.

_He can't do this by himself, the dobe_, Sasuke thought as he stood in a branch, watching the idiot stand up quickly and shout at no one in particular over the accident. _He'll just mess everything up and Itachi will get what he wants; that kyuubi inside of him. No way in hell am I going to let him get what he wants. Unlike me, his emotions are fogging up his mind._

By this time, Naruto had stood up and started running again after remembering Sakura. Sasuke _could_ take this opportunity to reveal to Naruto that he was there. Thoughts began racing past him. Naruto would want him to go back to Konoha. So would Sakura but, hell, he wasn't here for her. He was here to ruin Itachi's plan. And with the reinforcements to get Sakura back, once they get her safe, they would turn on him and drag him back to Konoha.

They couldn't. He wasn't done training with Orichimaru yet. He hadn't completely absorbed all the information that pale snake-obsessed sannin had in him. And he _had_ to kill Itachi before he could get back.

Sasuke smirked. Plus it was fun to watch Naruto be his stupid self. Boy, he missed this. This stuff was priceless. He watched, smirking, as Naruto continued running, talking out loud to himself about how he will save Sakura. Sure, he'll save Sakura. But he'll certainly need Sasuke's help to do that.

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Sakura looked around at every person she had ever known, all holding a kunai in their hands. They were probably going to attack her or something, she could tell by the way they were standing and looking at her. No matter; these are just illusions brought up by the genjutsu Itachi had put on her. She could easily take them out.

"**Go for it, Cha!**" her inner self chided. Lately, she had been a sort of cheerleader instead of an annoying pest.

Sakura infused her right hand with chakra and then punched the floor really hard. But something was wrong. The ground didn't move, let alone create the crater it should have made. And now her right hand hurt really badly. She fell to the floor as she winced in pain and put her left hand on her right, trying to summon her chakra to heal herself. No chakra would come. Her eyes widened in terror. She couldn't use any of her chakra.

"**Forger the chakra then**," inner sakura shouted while Sakura was thinking things through. "**That's why we have weapons. Now take that kunai and knock them out!**"

Sakura nodded; that was a pretty good plan coming from herself. She took out her kunai and stood up, ready to strike, when she noticed that her mirage friends had moved. Instead of them all being in front of her, they were now around h er, holding on to the kunais as if it was the only thing keeping them alive. They raised their kunais up in the air; Sakura waited for the chance to attack. _Their_ attack, however, went quicker than expected. Sakura's eyes widened. Blood spilled.

But it wasn't Sakura's blood.

Sakura realized this after she opened her eyes. She had subconsciously shut them out of fear when the kunais had come down. She didn't feel any pain, though, and she had opened them to find out why. Now, she wished she had just kept her eyes shut. All around her were her mirage friends, all covered in pools of blood. They weren't entirely dead; instead, they were slowly bleeding to death.

Sakura screeched out a cry. This was worse than getting stabbed by dozens of Itachis. Seeing her friends in pain, and knowing she couldn't heal them, was mentally killing her. She pushed her way out of the circle and ran as fast as she could away from them. This way, she wouldn't be able to see them in pain. To her distress, she heard their agonizing cries calling for her.

"Sa-Sakura-chan...please he-help me..." the Naruto mirage pleaded after moments of moaning. Sakura's eyes widened. She ran to a nearby tree and hid behind it where she proceeded to fall on the floor, bury her face in her knees and cover her ears. She still heard their moans and calls. In her head, she pictured their condition.

"S-sakura, come on, you can handle it," Sakura found herself talking to herself in a trembling voice. "Y-you can do this. They're just mirages...they-they're not real. Your real friends are somewhere out of this gen-genjutsu, safe and okay." She winced as she heard a scream coming from Ino. "They're just mirages...just mirages. You can do this. Do-Don't cry. Don't."

Despite this, she began to cry. She just couldn't help it. Not even her inner self could cheer her up.

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Deidera frowned. Damn Konoha. They were winning. Flying on his clay bird, he threw more clay bombs down, careful not to accidentally hit the bird. He should have stocked more. And Kisame should have brought tougher men to beat them. He could see from up here as some of them fought to their demise while others threw their swords and ran away.

He had no chance. His bombs would hold them off for a few minutes and would provide a cover for him to run away. He could see that there were some ninjas making their way up the building, trying to reach him and attack him. He took out little clay birds and sent them off. Then he took little bombs and threw them in the air. They exploded into a thick black cloud, enough so nobody could see his clay bird.

Down below, Kakashi witnessed Deidera's smoke escape. The smoke had cleared, and Deidera was gone. Kakashi guessed he had either transported himself or was running around in Konoha. He didn't hear any slashing sounds, so he guessed that Deidera had transported himself away, probably where the Akatsuki and Sakura were.

He heard running and watched as Kiba, Akamaru and Hinata came to him. He didn't need to see their anxious faces or feel their chakra go at a quicker speed to know that they were more than ready to go after the others. The jounins shortly jumped down around him. The obvious diversion against Konoha was over and they had won. Hopefully, Itachi had gained nothing through this.

Kakashi turned to Kiba. "Lead the way," he said. Kiba nodded. He got down on all fours and sniffed the floor. Kakashi always wondered how Kiba could managed to act like a real dog.

Kiba looked up, quickly standing up and running in one direction. The others followed. This was not the time for words.

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_hehehe. I completely ignored Itachi and Kisame. Wait…is that bad? Nooo! I'm sorry, Itachi, Kisame! Wait…I'm not. Did I ignore Neji and the others too? Nah, they're too cool. I'm sorry for getting all hyped up. Yes, this happens a lot. And yes, it does take this long for me to make a chapter. I'm easily distracted; school, anime, DAMN ANIME, stories. Anyways, Read and Review. _


	13. Chapter 13

_New chapter. Slightly short. I'm sorry! But it'll keep you all satisfied 'til I think of some more….inspiration. _

**_Disclaimer_**_: Standard _

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Jumping from branch to branch, the group followed Kiba's lead. Said boy stopped every so often to smell the floor, agree with his dog and continue on running. The jounins waited patiently while Hinata fidgeted with her fingers. It was a horrible habit, but it always succeeded in calming her down.

During one of his stops, though, he repeatedly sniffed the floor, unsure. Hinata began to think that Kiba had lost the scent. She was about to ask him if he was going through any trouble when his head snapped to her direction, flashing a huge grin.

"Hinata, look ahead," he suggested happily. Hinata did as she was told, but all she saw was the road above. She silently activated her Byakugan. Her eyes bulged happily.

"Th-the others!" she murmured. Kiba's grin, if possible, grew wider.

"That's right," Kiba chuckled. "Who's up ahead?"

"I s-see Ino-chan healing Neji-san, TenTen-chan and Lee-san arguing o-over something, Shino-san sulking and Shikamaru-san muttering s-something, I'm guessing 'troublesome'," Hinata deducted.

"I guess we'll go ahead now, Kiba-san, Hinata-san," Kakashi announced, motioning to the other jounins after acknowledging their presence. Kiba nodded as he and Hinata watched the jounins go off one by one: Kakashi going first, Gai following at top speed, Asuma following and Kurenai catching up. Before disappearing out of sight, Kurenai flashed them a smile, as if saying everything was going to be alright. Kiba guessed that this was to assure poor Hinata.

"Now what, Kiba-kun?" Hinata asked, turning to face Kiba. To her surprise, he wasn't there. He had already started going ahead, Akamaru following.

"Hinata, stop lagging behind!" Kiba shouted, half-teasing. Hinata nodded and shot off after him at her quickest pace.

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Sai jumped from a tree branch nearby to another one, dodging shurikens and balls of rock. "Is that all you got, you dickless excuses of men?" Sai shouted to them as he threw his kunais, knocking down some poor enemies who were trying to make sense of Sai's taunting. He quickly dodged another shower of kunais and some kind of flying squirrel with an explosive note.

"This guy's a little fast," one of the enemy ninja whispered to another nearby. The other nodded. "How are we going to get rid of him?"  
"Let's try to ambush him," the other whispered to the first one. The first one smiled and rushed around to meet every single enemy ninja, each which, in turn, smiled deviously and disappeared from Sai's sight.

_I wonder what's next_, Sai thought. Well, he has to have _some_ kind of reasoning in that thick skull of his. A kunai went his way and he dodged it. He waited for something to happen. Nothing. Another came from another direction and he dodged it. And waited.

Suddenly, all of the enemy ninja appeared from wherever they were hiding and surrounded him. Sai, scroll in hand, began to draw. A ninja threw his kunai and his scroll went flying. Sai showed no emotion; he just patiently waited. After a few seconds, all the enemy nin ran to the spot where Sai was simultaneously and striked him. The Sai they hit, however, melted into a pool of black ink.

"We've been tricked!" one of the enemy nin shrieked outloud as he looked around.

"He should be around here somewhere," another one said as he shifted his gaze from tree to tree. "We've been paid to prevent him from passing. Embarrassing to say that a puny kid could get past us. Using an ink clone!"

"Over there!" one of them shouted as a kunai was thrown. Sai had gone after his scroll, and now a kunai, followed by dozens more, was aiming straight at him. No time to move or do anything, the kunais all hit his body. The enemy nin waited.

"Is..is he _dead_?" one of them said out loud. His question was answered by a poof as the body of the kid they had stabbed turned into a log.

"Shit!" another cursed as he stomped the ground. "We're getting played around by a little kid! This is humiliating!"

"Then let me finish you guys up," a firm male voice rung out from a tree. All the enemy nin looked up to see a masked man with spiked up white hair.

"This way," he continued, smiling underneath his mask. "You won't be humiliated as much."

His hands began to glow as he prepared his chidori and the victims he was aiming at looked upwards, terrified.

"Forget this, I quit!" one of the ninjas shouted as he ran off.

"Me too, fuck it!" another shouted as he followed the first. Slowly, but _surely_, all of the enemy nin quitted and ran away.

"Well, that was a nice change of events," Kakashi muttered as the chidori slowly faded into nothing. "Now I don't have to waste my chakra on them."

"Kakashi, my youthful rival," Gai said, falling next to him from above with Shino. "Let's get going."

"Gotcha," Kakashi muttered as he poofed away. Shino followed. Gai jumped to the next tree ahead and then to the other until he was out of Sai's sight.

Sai watched them disappear, no expression in his face. Well, it's not like he would have one. His attention turned to some rustling behind him. Out jumped Kiba, Hinata, Lee, TenTen, Neji, Shikamaru and Ino, one by one, next to each other.

"Come on, they went this way," Kiba muttered as he ran ahead, in front of Sai. Hinata followed, Lee after her, then TenTen, Shikamaru, Ino and Neji. They all looked like they were in top form, save for Ino and Hinata, with an expression circling around determination. Before disappearing after Kiba, Shikamaru sent Sai a piercing glare. Sai took this as his cue to follow them.

Follow those who were chasing after Naruto, who was aimlessly looking for Sakura. They were trying to find their friends, _his_ teammates. Why didn't he share their worry? Why couldn't he feel anything at all, save the determination to finish this mission?

Was this the consequences of being a Root member?

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_Yes, it did take a while. I'm easy distracted, I can tell you that much. Plus, Cupid's Ninjas is soo much fun to write. XD I swear, it's not favorism. It's…something else. Read and Review. :D _


	14. Chapter 14

_New chapter. Gasp! And, if you were wondering, my vacation is going great! Yes, I'm still in vacation. :D But I'm giving you guys a real treat, sending this ahead. Except now….you guys have to wait until I get back to a good internet source before getting the rest. Chapter 14…up! _

**_Disclaimer_**_: Standard _

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Naruto gasped, horrified at what he had bumped into. A giant wall. Looking up, it ended before it reached the sky. But that was from his point-of-view. And there were trees surrounding the wall. Where had Sakura _gone _to? What does a giant, endless wall _mean_? Was this supposed to foreshadow or _mean_ something?

No. This could only mean one thing: Akatsuki sacrificed Sakura to the mole people. Okay...fine, they didn't. Even Naruto isn't dumb enough to fall for _that_ kind of bluff, no matter how much Sasuke thought he was. He was smart enough to know that he had reached a dead end, and that he had gone the wrong way. If _only_ had to taken Shino with him…

Naruto clapped his hands together. No use in sulking. Might as well just deal with what he has. He looked to his left, then to his right. Choosing the right side, he decided to run in that direction, hoping that he had gone the right way and would be one step closer to saving Sakura.

Sasuke shook his head in disappointment. He didn't need a Hyuuga's Byakugan to know that Naruto had gone the wrong way. It was merely Uchiha instinct. But he couldn't tell Naruto that Itachi was over there. It was up to him then.

Itachi was luring Naruto to him using Sakura. If he went ahead while Naruto was going the **wrong** way and rescued Sakura then Itachi's plan would be ruined. Naruto wouldn't come, ANBU ninja would come instead and he'd escape. Escape until the day that Sasuke would be strong enough to defeat him. And that day was coming close.

Meanwhile, Naruto could take care of himself.

He waited until Naruto was far enough away to jump down to the dead end Naruto had gotten to and Chidori the wall.

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"They're nearing us, Itachi," Kisame reported. "They've gotten through most of the hired ninjas. Deidera is putting clay bombs outside near the boulders above this cave to squash Konoha nins. Our chance out is transportation."

"Call everyone else," Itachi interrupted as he walked outside.

"Hai Itachi," Kisame muttered as he took the walkie-talkie. Doubting that the machine would get him to the others, Kisame poofed away.

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Kakashi had told him that two Chidoris was his limit. It had taken a super-powered Chidori to break the wall and make a cave of its own. Sasuke walked in all the way to the dead end it made. He knocked on the wall; it felt hollow. Sasuke took out his sword and dug it into the wall until it went through. He moved it a little until the rock that was between his sword started to move themselves and slowly fall away to the floor. Sasuke kicked the wall and it broke entirely.

He had broken into a hallway leading down to the darkness. He followed it down to the dead end and its doors. As much as he would love to Chidori the stone doors Sasuke knew he had to save that last Chidori incase of emergency. He let out a gust of fire instead and the stone door fell away.

To his luck he had burned down the right stone door. Sakura was on the floor, looking down at the ground. Sasuke released her, but she didn't move. She didn't even flinch or anything. Sasuke bent down and brought her face up. Sakura's eyes were struck with horror. Immediately Sasuke knew what was wrong with her.

Looks like he had to break her out of the Mangekyu Sharingan.

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"Kakashi, I see something ahead…" Kurenai muttered, squinting eyes. They had been running for some time now. "Shino, is the scent leading to that cave over there?"

Shino nodded.

"Aha!" Gai shouted. "Kakashi, I challenge you to a race up to that cave."

"This is no time for games, Gai," Kakashi said. "Akatsuki is very dangerous."

"Yes, but it would help us get there faster!" Gai shot back.

"There's something up on that cliff…" Kakashi muttered. "I see that some kind of ninjutsu was performed up there but I can't tell what it is from down here."

"For safety's sake, maybe I should go up there and figure it out, Kakashi…" Asuma said.

"No, I'll go ahead," Kakashi said. "I'll jump up this tree a little higher to see what it is. Go ahead with Shino."

"Hai."

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"Oi, Kakashi disappeared," Ino noticed. They were right on their teacher's tail. "Hinata-chan, can you see what's happening?"

"Kakashi-san is going up the t-tree…" Hinata muttered, byakugan activated. "I-I don't know what he's trying to do. Gomen, Ino-chan."

"It's alright Hinata," Ino grinned. "Can you see where we're heading?"

"We're heading to a cliff," Neji said. "There's a cave at the bottom, presumed where Haruno-san is located."

"Don't worry, my precious Sakura-chan!" Lee shouted into the distance. "I'll save you!"

"Neji-nee-san…doesn't it look a little dangerous?" Hinata muttered. "There are boulders on the top of that cliff…"

"Hinata, stop worrying so much!" Kiba teased. "We're ninjas, we're used to it."

"We've only been ninjas for a couple of years, Kiba…" Ino rolled her eyes. "…with the exception of TenTen, Lee and Neji-san."

"That's not the point," Kiba shouted. "The point is…ninja work revolves around dangerous situations. If we're not used to it, we've got to start now."

"At least for Haruno-san's sake," Neji agreed. "Konoha ninjas are not the kind to give up on their friends."

"Oi, Sai…are you alright?" Ino asked as soon as she faced him. Sai wasn't the type of guy to show emotions considering he didn't _have_ them. But as everyone turned to face him, they all noticed something was wrong with him.

"I'm alright," Sai said, putting on his fake smile. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"Well, your pace has been slowing down for some time now…" Shikamaru muttered.

Sai himself hadn't noticed he had done such a thing. "My apologies," Sai quickly said. "I'll speed up right away." He did so.

"Sai, don't worry," Ino tried to comfort him as she tried to slow her pace to meet his. "We'll find her."

"Worried?" Sai muttered. "I'm worried? I'm…_feeling_ something?"

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**_I'll just leave this as a cliffy, but it's a large amount of text for a chapter. Be grateful, NOW._**


	15. Chapter 15

**_Sorry for the long wait. I was kinda in a "small" hiatus because of school. But at least this chapter's up. I'm seriously not liking this. I little short, ne? Okay, maybe it wasn't so small...coughyearcough_**

**_Disclaimer: _**Standard

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Kakashi looked at the top of the cliff in disgust. He swore there had been something at the edge of it a few moments ago. Using his Sharingan, he could see a chakra trail, signifying someone had been there, and had used some kind of jutsu. But there was nothing above there. It seemed pretty fishy to him.

Kakashi took a false step forward and fell a few feet to another branch, perfectly landing on it in a crouched position. He could see the other teachers and their former students ahead of him. Kakashi, not wanting to waste any of his energy, made his hand seals and poofed away to the front of the group of teachers. He ran at their pace until he was comfortable enough to talk and run at the same time.

"Anything ahead, Kakashi?" Asuma asked him.

"The edge of the cliff isn't safe," Kakashi muttered. "Scattered chakra trails are all over that area, but I can't see what they did."

"Our enemy knows to keep things hidden," Asuma noted.

"Which means we have to be careful," Kurenai said. "Akatsuki is very dangerous. Should we call for more back up?"

"Don't we have enough members already, Kurenai?" Asuma shot back. "We, and our students. Isn't it enough?"

Kurenai calmed herself down. "But we **are** talking about Akatsuki aren't we?"

"There's nothing to fear, Kurenai," Asuma said. "They can't get us all. I'll see to it."

"Yes, I **too** will see it through!" Gai interrupted. "I will make sure the fires of our inspiring youth not be hosed down to a candle! My Lee would NOT allow that!"

"I have a bad feeling about our numbers," Kurenai muttered. "Like it's not a right amount. Ne, Kakashi, don't you think Tsunade-sama went overboard a little? Sending us all to bring back Haruno Sakura…don't you think that's a little bit on the extreme side?"

"It might be parental instincts, Kurenai," Asuma answered. "Tsunade-sama treats Sakura like her own. It makes sense she'd go to drastic measures to get her back."

"You're right, Kurenai," Kakashi interrupted. "Tsunade is overreacting. We have no choice but to do the best with what we have. Keep in mind, if bringing back Sakura fails, capture one of the enemy to get the information out of them."

Asuma, Gai and Kurenai nodded.

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"Sakura-chan…"

"…Billboard brow…"

"………..Sakura-san…"

"…help us…"

Another scream rung out, this time coming from the TenTen clone, and Sakura heard a thud as she fell to the floor. It was no use to cover her ears; their moans got through to her no matter what. Feeling defeated, Sakura suddenly noticed that, little by little, their moans were dying out, replaced by their last desperate gasps of air. Little by little, the sounds of people falling on the floor became more frequent. The madness was almost over.

Feeling a little safer, Sakura lifted her head and checked the area. The genjutsu background was still in effect, but she didn't see any of her cloned friends. Sakura stood up, her legs wobbly, hoping that the genjutsu's effect had already worn off of her. Perhaps she had been rescued already and someone had managed to pass their chakra into hers.

Sakura looked at her own hands. Somehow, she couldn't get any chakra to come out. She couldn't even poof herself away, let alone break the spell. She was trapped in this place.

Standing behind the tree, Sakura didn't dare turn around. She didn't want to see what was on the other side. The mere thought of it was driving her crazy. But curiosity was a troublesome thing; she had to make sure they were all dead and that she was safe.

"…sakura-chan…"

It was meant to be a whisper between deep and heavy breaths, but the intensity of the words increased as it reached her. To her, it sounded like death itself. And death itself sounded like it was behind her. Sakura closed her eyes tightly.

Sakura heard someone _poof_ behind her tree. She didn't know who it was, but she could hear Naruto's heart race. She heard a rustle from the figure, and then a sudden grab. The naruto clone grunted as Sakura heard his body being raised into the air. The sound of a punch and the clone flying off to one side. And crashing down to the floor.

"Hn. Pathetic."

_That voice._ _That familiar voice._ Sakura hadn't heard it in a long time. She opened her eyes; no one was in front of her. She could feel chakra behind her, behind the tree. "Sasuke-kun..." her voice trailed off.

"You're pathetic."

Sakura's eyes widened. Of course Sasuke would say something like that; it's something that Sasuke had always said to her. Quickly, she tightened her eyes; Itachi's illusion must have advanced into something else. She fell to the floor, and put her hands over her head, covering her ears and her eyes. She didn't want to see.

"Go away!" she shrieked. The one thing she couldn't, wouldn't _want_ to bear, was the image of an injured, destroyed Sasuke. The thought almost killed her. "Get back! Go away!"

A few seconds of silence, and the a _poof_ was heard.

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**_Okay…this chapter's over. Now to start the next one. This slow…updating is killing me more than it kills you readers. Trust me. School fails._**


	16. Chapter 16

**_Next chapter. Amazing…I finished faster than I thought I would. LuckyLucky Readers. Then again, I do need to make it up to you all. ;D  
_**

**_I'm getting tired of making author notes. --  
_**

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"Rock ninjas ahead," Neji murmured. Hinata nodded. "Twenty." Hinata nodded again.

"What do we do?" Ino asked, looking at Shikamaru. Shikamaru narrowed his eyes.

"God, why are their numbers so great today?" Shikamaru murmured, annoyed. "Their skill level can't be pretty high if they're so easily bought by money. Half of us should fight, and the other half slip by. The fighting group should be quick to injure and leave the opponent motionless. Neji, Hinata, TenTen, Kurenai, Kakashi, Ino, Shino and Sai will have to be in the fighting team."

Ino nodded. "Quick and painful." She turned to Shikamaru. "Where will you go?"

"Fighting team, obviously," Shikamaru murmured. "Someone needs to take care of your body."

As they neared the cave, the plan was put to action. Walking slowly to where the Rock ninjas waited, TenTen, Shino and Sai showered them with their attacks, rushing the rock ninjas out of hiding. From there, Ino took possession of one and began injuring, Neji and Hinata using their Hyuuga special skills to block the chakra of as much ninjas as they could. Kakashi, the famed copycat ninja, mimicked Kurenai in genjutsu and captured the remaining, Neji and Hinata sealing them.

It didn't hit them until later on that they had gotten offtrack and reached the entrance of the cave. At the same time, the bomb explosives were set off, and huge boulders began to fall down towards them.

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"Stupid."

Sasuke was crouched right by Sakura's side, his hand holding her face up so he could see her face. Sasuke's own was blank and unsmiling, Sakura's face still horrified. After a few minutes, he picked her up and slung her over his shoulder, like a fireman. And walked out the door…

…Right into Itachi.

"My dear brother, I surely didn't expect you out here," Itachi murmured.

Sasuke glared from the distance and walked the other way. Something seemed to stop him. Sasuke looked back at his brother. "I'm here to stop you."

"I heard you left Konoha."

"I did."

"And your friends?"

"As well."

Itachi nudged him, and pointed to Sakura. "So is she special?"

"To the idiot you're trying to capture."

"I see. Then, I need her."

It was a stare down, both Uchihas looking at each other with serious faces. There was no anger, no sadness, no joy; just blank Uchiha faces. And it would have stayed like that, one of them eventually succumbing to the other's sharingan, if two things hadn't happened at the same time. One, a huge explosion sounded from the outside, far far away and yet so very close. It sounded like dynamite, and at the same time it didn't. This itself caused nothing; Itachi believed his plan was in action and Sasuke believed the nins would deal with it. The second thing, though, was too unexpected to not pay attention to.

The wall nearest to them was smashed down by a great attack, and the wall in front of that wall had a huge crater in it. The smashed wall left a mist, so the attacker, at first, seemed to be a small rodent on the floor, standing so very still. Upon further inspection, the rodent was actually frozen in fear. Sasuke took this chance as a distraction and ran off, Itachi stepping away from him for a moment before he noted Sasuke's disappearance. The mist cleared; no one was there.

_Ch. _Itachi made a few hand signs, and disappeared


	17. Chapter 17

_**Author's Note: -- Nothing. xD **_

_**Lately, I've had more time, and thus the multiple updates for today.**_

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Sasuke found his exit pretty smoothly; the Chidoried wall. He put Sakura down by the exit, looking at her one last time. It would be a while before they met again. Maybe it was luck that she was under Mangekyou this time, and that she hadn't woken up?

"Sasuke…"

Sasuke turned his head before Naruto had finished saying his name. There was disbelief in his face. Sasuke made sure his didn't say anything.

"Sasuke, come back!" Naruto shouted.

Exactly what Naruto would say. Sasuke made a few hand signs, Naruto quickly realizing and running towards him, but he poofed away before Naruto could reach him.

**-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-**

In minutes, everything was over. There were no more rock nins, there were no bad guys; there were only large pieces of boulders on the floor, and logs. It seemed like every one of them had thought of using the substitution jutsu to get out of the situation, except for Kakashi, Gai and Asuma. A better explanation would be that they, in order to make sure all of them would turn out fine, Kakashi chidoried the rock, Gai attacked it, and Asuma slashed it. The outcome sounded like bigger dynamite, and it rattled the ears of every other enemy that they had missed. Kurenai took care of them.

"Half go in, half stay out."

"No need, just wait a few minutes," Neji said. Hinata nodded, her veins out as well. Following their words, everyone waited, looking inside the dark entrance of the cave. Out of it came Naruto, with Sakura in his hands. He was looking bitterly at the road ahead, Sakura's face hidden from the group. As everyone rushed in to see, Kakashi moved her head and then all was silent.

**-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-**

The Mangekyou was over. Everything was bright white.

"Wh…ere…am I……?" She couldn't hear her own voice.

"Sakura? Sakura!"

"S…m…one?" She couldn't tell who it was. She couldn't move.

"Sakura! Sakura, it's me!"

"Sakura, it's Tsunade! It's your teacher!"

"Go…daime?" She remembered who Tsunade was. She remembered Konoha. She remembered her friends. She remembered Itachi's sharingan.

"Sakura, no! Don't lose me! Come back to me! Come back to us!"

"B…Billboard Brow, get over here right now!" There were chocked sobs on that one.

"I…e…no…."

"Yes, Ino! Don't leave me. Shizune's here, too. And Tsunade. Hinata. Naruto's waiting in the waiting room for once. Rock Lee's waiting with him, too."

"……." She felt so happy. There were no words for that.

"Wake up already, please?"

"…..alr…ight." But she couldn't. She wouldn't let it end this way. Not this way. Not without finding him. No. way. Not even the Mangekyou would stop her.

"Her chakra's going crazy."

"She's becoming unstable."

"Sakura!"

"Oi, Sakura-chan! Are you awake yet! Wake up already!"

Sakura's eyes opened, she stood up, made a fist and punched the person nearest to her. She didn't realize what she did until a few minutes later, when she turned her head to see what she did. Sakura had just punched Naruto in the face. Pale in the face, Sakura brought her hand close to her and fell to her bed, pretending to have fainted.

Tsunade was dumbfounded. Hinata went over to help heal Naruto with Shizune. Ino leaned over to Sakura's ear and whispered, "Welcome back."

"Glad to be back."


End file.
